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Sunday, March 16, 2003

By Dejan Kovacevic, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

It is likely that the Maple Leafs and Flyers will meet in the first round of Stanley Cup playoffs.

That makes it just as likely that one of those teams will have forfeited a significant chunk of its future for one postseason round, as one rival general manager was only too eager to point out.

"One of those teams is going home, and they both loaded up. That's where the math doesn't work," the Canucks' Brian Burke told the Vancouver Province. "You see a team give up a second-round pick for a player who becomes a free agent on July 1, that, if you lose in the first round, you might only have for 30 days. Is that sensible? Is that prudent?"

The deal of which Burke spoke was Toronto's acquisition of Glen Wesley from the Hurricanes. The Maple Leafs also sent away picks and prospects to acquire Owen Nolan, Doug Gilmour and Phil Housley. The Flyers did likewise to get Tony Amonte, Dmitry Yushkevich and Claude Lapointe.

The only move Burke made to bolster his surging team was for fourth-liner Brad May.

The Rangers' Anson Carter, one of the NHL's 13 black players, decried former NHL goaltender John Vanbiesbrouck's racial slur against a black player, Trevor Daley, last week in the Ontario Hockey League. Vanbiesbrouck quit as coach, general manager and part owner of the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds earlier in the week. "When I first read it, my first thought was that there's another black mark for the game of hockey," Carter told reporters. "The league has taken great lengths to educate guys about cultural awareness. Then, this happens, and it's like we're taking a step backward."

How about the Rangers' top line this week? It's Mark Messier ($3.9 million) between Pavel Bure ($10 million) and Alexei Kovalev ($4.6 million). More staggering, the third line is Bobby Holik ($9.6 million) between Eric Lindros ($2.7 million) and pauper Jamie Lundmark ($512,500).

With great cuts in payroll such as those happening in Pittsburgh and elsehwere around the league, stabilized ticket prices or other benefits for fans logically should follow. The Florida Panthers are taking the lead. Season-ticket holders who renew early will have no price increase in 2003-04, plus a round-trip plane ticket or other travel-based gifts.

Yes, the Penguins are looking into such a plan for next season.

The Sabres received plenty of heartening news off the ice this week with billionaire Thomas Golisano's declaration that he wants to buy the team and keep it in Buffalo. But they have plenty of damage to undo in their locker room after the unpopular trades of Stu Barnes, Vaclav Varada, Chris Gratton and Rob Ray. Alexei Zhitnik was upset enough that he asked to be dealt but was denied.

When NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman met with a group of 300 season-ticket holders Thursday in Atlanta, he said that the Peguins are in no immediate financial peril.

The only one who watches Jaromir Jagr more closely than the IRS is the Bruins' Hal Gill, who has defended him like no one else in the NHL going back to Jagr's days in Pittsburgh. Research by a Boston television network showed that Jagr has 52 points in 30 games against the Bruins when Gill is not playing, 16 points in 21 games when he does. "I yell at him because he's diving, and he yells at me because I'm hooking him," Gill told the Boston Globe. "All fun."